Tag: Wimbledon

Imperious Roger Federer easily through to second round at Wimbledon 2018.

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The defending champion comfortably breezed past Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court.

Blue skies, hot temperatures, and freshly picked strawberries smothered with cool cream…that can only mean one thing; Wimbledon 2018 is finally upon us.

All of the courts looked like seas of emeralds on day one. The grass, which has been finely kept under maintenance over the last year, looked immaculate ahead of the opening matches. The crowds flocked in, with many heading to Centre Court to see the one man that has lit up the tennis scene over the past two decades.

Roger Federer – a man that has such a great affiliation with this tournament – will once again be the favourite to lift the trophy in two weeks’ time. This is his 20th appearance at Wimbledon since winning the Boy’s Singles in 1998, and he will be looking to match Martina Navratilova’s record of nine single’s titles. The defending champion suffered a shock defeat in the Halle Open Final as part of his preparations for this Grand Slam, but he is too experienced and too wise to let that affect his confidence.

It has now been 10 years since that infamous final against Rafael Nadal; the man that many predict will provide the biggest threat to the Swiss. Both have won the last six Grand Slams between them (Federer: Australian Open 2017, 2018 and Wimbledon 2017. Nadal: French Open 2017, 2018 and US Open 2017) and both are the current world number one and two.

With the Spaniard not on court until tomorrow, it was down to Federer to throw down the gauntlet.

He began his title defence against Serbian Dusan Lajovic, the world number 58 in the world rankings. The two also met in last year’s competition, with the Swiss comfortably coming through on that occasion in straight sets.

This match was almost a carbon copy. It took Federer only a short amount of time to find his rhythm and ranges before securing a double-break on Lajovic. The Swiss was relaxed, comfortable and always in command of the court, and won six games on the bounce to take the opening set 6-1 in just 20 minutes.

Federer continued his dominant performance in the second set. The variety of serves and shots he produced were just too good for his Serbian opponent – as it began to look like a practice match. Lajovic had lost nine games in a row to the Swiss, but did manage to end the rot halfway through the second set. By that point Federer was in cruise control anyway, and served out the second set 6-3.

The third set lacked intensity. Federer had reserved his energy knowing his job was pretty much done. Lajovic offered nothing in reply. He stuck by it but ultimately got himself into the match at too late a stage to scare the number one seed. Federer served out the match, which he’d won in just 79 minutes.

It may have ended up being a Monday afternoon stroll in the summer sun for the Swiss, but Federer will be expecting tougher tests to come. This was however another warning shot to his rivals – showing them all that even at 36, he is still as hungry to win as ever.

The Swiss and Spanish renaissance: A year to remember for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

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They won all four Grand Slam titles between them and will end the year as world number one and two. What a 12 months it has been for the 36-year-old Swiss and 31-year-old Spaniard.

Just when it seemed like two legends of tennis had been chewed up and spat through the exit doors by the impressive, younger stars at the end of 2016, both came rallying back to dominate the 2017 season.

Of course, I’m talking about Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Both subsequently came into this year following injury lay-offs. Federer had been out of action since Wimbledon 2016 with a knee injury, whilst Nadal ended his tour in October of that year after problems with his wrist.

As a result, Nadal was seeded ninth and Federer 17th going into January’s Australian Open.

However, the Swiss beat two of the top 10 seeds in Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori in the early rounds, before defeating Mischa Zverev (Andy Murray’s victor in the fourth round) to become the oldest player to make it to a Grand Slam semi-final since Jimmy Connors in 1991.

Federer battled past fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in five sets to become the oldest singles male player to make a final since 1974, where he would meet old nemesis Nadal.

The Spaniard himself had beaten Zverev’s impressive younger brother Alexander and Gael Monfis before coming out of his five-hour, semi-final grudge match against Gregor Dimitrov victorious.

This was Nadal’s first Grand Slam final since 2014, whilst Federer had not been in a major final since the 2015 US Open.

The subsequent match at the Rod Lever Arena was almost a reincarnation of that exhilarating Wimbledon final of 2008, but this time it was Federer – who was playing in his 100th match at the Australian Open – who came out on top in five sets.

Federer’s win was his first Gram Slam title for five years, but it was also his first Grand Slam win over his old rival since 2007 and the first that wasn’t at Wimbledon.

That win in Melbourne was a historic one for the illustrious Swiss. He became the first man to win five or more times at THREE of the four Grand Slam events and the second-oldest man behind Ken Rosewell to win a major singles tournament.

Titles at Indian Wells, Miami and Halle swiftly followed, but Federer had his eyes on one prize that was close to his heart and had evaded him for half a decade: Wimbledon.

From round one all the way to the final, the Swiss maestro dominated his opponents, and after defeating Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in the final, he managed to win his eighth Wimbledon title without dropping a single set.

Federer became the record holder for most Gentlemen’s singles Wimbledon titles, surpassing both Pete Sampras and William Renshaw who had won it seven times.

He won more trophies in Shanghai and in his native Switzerland at Basel to cap off his best season statistically since 2007.

As for Rafael Nadal, defeat at the Australian Open only spurred him on for the rest of the year.

In April he won his first title of the year at Monte-Carlo, before winning both the Madrid and Barcelona Open back-to-back in his native Spain.

Much like Federer, Nadal had an eye on the one prize he had won so many times- the French Open title.

Roland Garros was like a second home to the 31-year old, and once again he was at his very best in Paris.

He comfortably made it to the final where he would face Wawrinka, but even he was powerless to stop Nadal from winning ‘La Decima’ (“the tenth” in Spanish) and become the first tennis player to ever win 10 titles at the same Grand Slam.

Nadal dropped no sets and only 35 games at Roland Garros this year, the second-lowest return in Grand Slam history.

The final Grand Slam of the year – The US Open – was again dominated by the old guards. After overcoming a difficult test in Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-finals, Nadal comfortably beat Kevin Anderson in straight sets for his 16th career Grand Slam title.

His final victory of the year came at the Chinese Open in Beijing in October.

In December, the ATP Rankings saw Nadal and Federer ranked as world number one and two respectively, sending a message to the ATP Tour that despite their age they are both far from finished. At 31, Nadal is the oldest man to ever end the year top of the tree.

Despite his and Federer’s successes, 2017 wasn’t so rosy for Novak Djockovic and Sir Andy Murray.  These were two of the leading members of this new, younger, ambitious group trying to push Federer and Nadal out, but now it looks like they will all need to go back to the drawing board.

Djokovic and Murray have both had injury problems this year, with the former splitting with coach Marian Vajda in April.

Beforehand the Serbian had lost to a player outside the top 100 for the first time at a Grand Slam in his career in Australia.

He appointed Andre Agassi as his new coach in the summer but an elbow injury at Wimbledon saw him retire during his quarter-final match with Berdych and ultimately ruled out for the rest of the season.

Murray went into 2017 as world number one following his best season to date the year before. However, an early exit at the Australian Open was just the first of many shock defeats that the Scot endured during the season.

He lost in the first round at Queen’s Club before also exiting Wimbledon at the quarter-final stage.

A hip injury saw him miss the remainder of the season and drop as low as world number 16 in November, his lowest ranking since 2008. He also split with Ivan Lendl for a second time in the autumn, as he now prepares for the new season which starts next month.

All of these developments set up an exciting 2018 for Men’s tennis. With Djokovic, Murray and Wawrinka all set to return from injury and both Nadal and Federer in their best form for years, we could see fireworks in the months ahead.

One could even argue that there has never been a greater anticipation for an upcoming ATP Tour since it was established back in 1990.

Queen’s 2017: Day Three

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The second round begins, with Gregor Dimitrov and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga featuring once again.

With Andy Murray out, Queen’s will have a new champion in 2017.  Here are the reports from today’s action on centre court.

Donald Young bt. Viktor Troicki (6-3, 6-4)

Donald Young beat Serbian Viktor Troicki in straight sets as he made through to the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event for just the third time this year.

Troicki didn’t have long to recover from his mammoth match with fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic yesterday, and that showed against a much fresher Young.

The world number 55 was a set up against Nick Kyrgios in the first round before the Australian retired with injury.

Young broke early, and raced to a 6-3 first set win in just under 30 minutes.

The 27-year old then broke Troicki again in the second set with a cross-court forehand, in what was a comfortable victory for the American.

Gilles Muller bt. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6-4, 6-4)

Gilles Muller’s impressive 2017 continued after he beat world number 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.

The Frenchman’s elimination means only Marin Cilic is the only one of the top five-seeded players remaining in the tournament.

Muller, who is ranked 26th in the world, has already won two ATP Tour events this year. The 34-year old made a fantastic start to the grass-court season by winning last week’s Ricoh Open in the Netherlands.

Tsonga – who made the final of Queen’s back in 2011 – struggled against the Luxembourger’s movement around the court, as he became the latest victim of what has been a extraordinary tournament in London.

Muller came up with the only break of the first set, which he then won 6-4.

The 34-year old then broke Tsonga again as he raced to a 2-0 lead in the second set.

Fifth-seeded Tsonga dropped two break points himself during the second set, and the Luxembourger took full advantage by winning it 6-4.

Grigor Dimitrov bt. Julien Benneteau (4-6, 6-3, 6-4)

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov came from a set down to beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau and keep his Queen’s title hopes alive.

The world number 12 made a slow start as temperatures reached 40 degrees on court. He lost his first service game to Benneteau, which ultimately cost him the set.

However, the Bulgarian seemed to grow into the game, and won the match in just under two hours with three consecutive aces in the final game.

World number 87 Benneteau produced a fine display despite ultimately coming up short against the sixth-seeded Dimitrov.

Tomas Berdych bt. Denis Shapovalov (7-6, 6-7, 7-5)

Tomas Berdych saw off the brave 18-year old Denis Shapovalov after a gruelling match to close proceedings on day three at Queen’s.

The match was closely fought throughout it’s two-hour duration, but the experience of seventh-seed Berdych helped him close it out with the first break of the contest in the final game.

But the performance of young Canadian Shapovalov will stand out, and he will be a name to watch out for in the years ahead.

The first two sets went to tie-breaks, with both men finding it difficult to return each other’s serve .

Berdych – a former Wimbledon finalist – remains on course to face Gregor Dimitrov in the semi-finals. Both will now have an eye on the title following the shock results of the past couple of days.

 

 

 

 

Queen’s 2017: Day One

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gregor Dimitrov and Kyle Edmund all starred on opening day. 

The grass court season is finally upon us, meaning the return of Queen’s– one of the most prestigious tour events which also serves as perfect preparation for Wimbledon. It’s been a tough day for all the players, with such blistering hot temperatures in West London. Here is how each match on Centre Court unfolded on the opening day.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt. Adrian Mannarino (6-2, 6-2)

Fifth seed and world number 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga opened proceedings with a straight sets win over fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

The crucial game of the match came during the opening set, when a 12-minute grudge match finally ended with Tsonga claiming an all-important break to go 4-2 up.

Mannarino struggled after that, and needed a medical time-out at one point after feeling a pain in his back.

Tsonga stepped up a gear to make easy work of the second set. The 2008 Australian Open finalist served well, and used his ferocious forehand to his advantage as he aims to make it to a first Queen’s final since 2011.

Gregor Dimitrov bt. Ryan Harrison (6-3, 6-1)

Bulgarian Gregor Dimitrov was comfortable from start to end as he beat American Ryan Harrison in straight sets.

The world number 11 took just 54 minutes to win the match, and dropped just four games along the way.

Harrison was hampered by too many unforced errors, which lead to him throwing balls into the crowd and slamming his racket in frustration. He was ultimately cautioned by the match umpire.

Dimitrov was different class however. The number six seed held his serve well, and played some magnificent shots from the baseline. The 2014 Queen’s champion showed flashes of just what he can do on a grass court and will go into the second round full of confidence.

Donald Young bt. Nick Kyrgios (7-6, Ret)

Nick Kyrgios’ retired from his first round match with American Donald Young with injury.

The Australian and number nine seed had yet to win a match at Queen’s prior to the tournament, and had his right leg heavily strapped up at the beginning of the match.

With the match closely fought, a slip during the ninth game of the first set ultimately cost Kyrgios, as he seemed to pull his left groin after his awkward tumble.

The world number 20 was sluggish around the court following the slip due to the injury he suffered, and struggled to compete in the tiebreak, which Young won 7-3.

The American used his powerful forehand to push Kyrgios around the court, and could be one to watch in this tournament. He very much held his own against the ninth seed, but the question following this match will be whether the Australian will return in time for Wimbledon, which starts in just two weeks time.

Denis Shapovalov bt. Kyle Edmund (7-6, 4-6, 6-4)

Two of tennis’ promising prodigies came face to face in the final match of the day, with 18-year old Denis Shapovalov shocking Queen’s by beating Britain’s Kyle Edmund.

Edmund, who has grown into a fine young player, was looking to make a mark on home soil. He made it through to the quarter-finals in this tournament last year, and wanted to try and at least make it to the same stage this time around.

However, the world number 44 struggled against the impressive Shapovalov. The Canadian, who won the junior Wimbledon last year, served well and played aggressively. He was rewarded with a first set win, beating Edmund 7-4 in the tiebreak.

Edmund recovered well, and got that all important break early on before wrapping up the second set 6-4.

The final set had a similar tone to the first, with both players struggling to break away from their opponent. The Canadian eventually found that elusive break in the final game, and will celebrate the biggest win of his very short career to date.

Shapovalov for certain has a bright future ahead of him, and will be a name to watch out for in the coming years. For Edmund, it’s about regrouping and rebuilding ahead of Wimbledon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hungarian born, Australian bred, Britain’s sweetheart. 2017 could be Johanna Konta’s year.

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After an unbelievable surge up the WTA Rankings, the British number one will hope to continue her rise towards the top of women’s tennis and possibly compete in this year’s majors, as the new tennis season gets underway.

Back in 1977, ABBA released their hit single ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’, which spent five weeks at number one, whilst George Lucas’s Star Wars opened in cinemas for the first time. On a more tragic note, ‘King of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley sadly passed away at his home in Graceland, Memphis aged just 42 in the same year.

But 1977 was also the last time a British woman made it to a Grand Slam single’s final.

Her name was Virginia Wade. Born in Bournemouth, she made it all the way to number two in the world during a successful playing career, which culminated in 55 singles titles.

Wade was also a brilliant doubles player- reaching world number one.

She won three Grand Slam singles championships and four Grand Slam doubles championships, making her the only British woman in history to have won titles at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Some would’ve hoped that Wade was the first of many competitive and gifted female tennis stars from the UK. Instead, it’s been 50 years without a grand slam finalist.

Laura Robson, Heather Watson and Anne Keothavong have all been hit and miss, and although Andy Murray has won the US Open and Wimbledon twice in the last five years, we haven’t had too much to get excited about on the women’s side of the game.

But now we may have found someone who has the potential to finally follow in Wade’s footsteps.

Johanna Konta may be from Australia, and have Hungarian parents, but she has become a British sweetheart since gaining citizenship in 2012.

In doing so, she has created a sense of excitement in the country.

Her remarkable rise up the rankings in 2016 was a joy to behold for tennis and sports fans, but she has steadily improved her game over the last five years.

In 2012 she won her first ever Grand Slam match at the US Open- a straight sets victory over Timea Babos. She was only 21 at the time, and ranked 203 in the world.

2013 saw her move up in the rankings at a easy pace, and by 2014, she had broken into the top 100.

A drop in form saw her fall back to world no.150 in December 2014, with people beginning to label her as another false hope.

No one saw or even expected what was to come next in 2015.

Despite an opening round defeat to Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, Konta was able to experience Centre Court for the first time, and went into the US Open that year with subdued optimism.

At Flushing Meadows she went on a remarkable run, reaching the last 16 before being knocked out by Petra Kvitova. Bearing in mind she had only won just the single Grand Slam match prior to the tournament, her name began to once again be talked up by pundits and journalists.

Following on from her US Open displays, Konta performed heroically at the 2015 Wuhan Cup. She defeated former world number one Victoria Azarenka and world number two at the time Simona Halep before agonisingly losing out in the quarter-finals to Venus Williams.

Her runs in both the US Open and Wuhan Cup saw her climb into the top 50 for the first time in her career, and become British number one ahead of Watson.

At this point even the WTA were noticing Konta, which resulted in her becoming a finalist at the end of season awards ceremony for most improved player. She lost out to French Open semi-finalist Timea Bacsinszky.

For the first time, Konta went into a season with expectation on her shoulders in 2016, and it looked like it was having an effect on her performances.

An opening round exit at the Shenzhen Open was followed by another early exit at Hobart.

However, at the Australian Open, Konta went on a run which saw her defeat Venus Williams, Zheng Saisai,  Denisa Allertová, Ekaterina Makarova, and qualifier Zhang Shuai. Her journey in Melbourne ultimately came to an end in the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion Angelique Kerber in straight sets.

But for the first time in 32 years, a female tennis player from Britain had made it to the last four of a Grand Slam. She also became the first British female player to be seeded at Wimbledon for three decades last June.

To cap off her consistent year, Konta won her first WTA event, beating Venus Williams in the final of the Stanford Classic in California 7-5 5-7 6-2.

In December 2016 she broke into the top 10 in the world- becoming the first female Brit to achieve the feat since Jo Durie in 1984.

During the off-season, Konta  has changed her coach, with Esteban Carril and Jose-Manuel Garcia being replaced by Belgian Wim Fissette.

Some may have questioned her choice, but after their first pre-season together, the pair seem to have enhanced her game even more.

At the time of writing, She has made it to the semi-finals of the Shenzhen Open- her first event of 2017.

So what makes Konta such a difficult opponent? Why could she challenge for a Grand Slam title?

Her natural skill and athleticism..yes. But also her incredible mindset. She somehow manages to keeps herself grounded, and goes into every tournament one game at a time.

She doesn’t think about rankings or prize money. She never thinks two or three rounds down the line. She respects each opponent she faces and treats each match like a final.

From watching her on television, Konta seems a calm, cheerful and well tempered individual. It’s rare you’ll see her raise her voice or answer back. She seems comfortable and at ease with the media, and doesn’t let the luxuries of being one of the top 10 players in the world effect her lifestyle.

She has also never given up on her dreams.

Financially, working with Garcia and Carril was a straining business. It was a big gamble. But one that paid off evidently. She stuck by her coaches, and her coaches stuck by her. Despite her funding from the Lawn Tennis Association being slashed, she still managed to earn the money needed to take up necessary training camps in northern Spain.

If there are any young females wanting someone to emulate or grow up to be like, Johanna Konta is a perfect example. Work hard, don’t give up and always follow your dreams.

That is the Konta way.

Moving from another country to pursue in a career is always a challenge, but it’s one that has left a young tennis starlet – and a nation deprived of women’s champions for half a century – very much on the road to glory.